The present invention relates to metallo-organic cobalt compounds and their use in the treatment of subjects for conditions and diseases caused by viruses and viral infections. It has been discovered that certain conditions and diseases, e.g., inflammation, burns, wounds, and diseases caused by bacteria and fungi in mammalian species can be treated with certain complexes of cobalt having the structure: ##STR3## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.1' are the same or different and each is an alkyl group, a phenyl group or a substituted derivative of a phenyl group;
wherein R.sub.2 and R.sub.2' are the same or different and each is hydrogen, an unbranched alkyl group, a halide or a group having the structure ##STR4## wherein R is hydrogen, an alkoxide group, an alkyl group, or OH; wherein R.sub.3 and R.sub.3' are the same or different and each is hydrogen or an alkyl group; PA1 wherein X and X' are the same or different and each is a water soluble group having weak to intermediate ligand field strength; and PA1 Q.sup.- is a soluble, pharmaceutically acceptable negative ion.
To date, however, such uses have been the only ones disclosed for these complexes.
Today, virus infections are known to be significant causes of morbidity and mortality in human and veterinary medicine. Many of these diseases are untreatable or the available therapies are not entirely satisfactory and only provide minimal clinical response. For the most part, it is known that viral diseases do not respond to therapy with conventional antibiotics. Despite some recent successes in the development of antiviral chemotherapeutic agents, new treatments for these diseases are needed to improve the management of viral infections in clinical medicine.